It's Now or Never
by Lily-Potter-Evans
Summary: James loves Lily...Lily detests James. As seventh year rolls around, will he change for her...or risk the chance of having her?
1. Make Sure It's Well Planned

It was a dull spring day in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and all the students could be found in their respective common rooms, enjoying the warm fire. At least, most of the students could be found there. The Marauders, however, could be found in a classroom on the third floor, planning their next prank.

"Excellent idea, Padfoot!" James could be heard saying.

"Don't I know it, Prongs!" replied Sirius.

Remus agreed it would make a good prank, if only they thought it out perfectly. Otherwise, McGonagall was sure to catch them red-handed. James and Sirius were opposed to wasting any more time, but relented once Remus told them all the consequences the prank would bring if it wasn't carefully thought out.

After a careful two days of planning and arguing, the Marauders were ready to pull their prank. It would take place at the end of the year feast in 2 weeks, making sure that everyone was present to watch the "wonderful" spectacle.

"James, you made sure to practice the spells correctly?" asked Remus.

"Don't worry, Moony. Everything's going to be fine."

Whenever James would say that, it meant something was going to go wrong. Remus knew this, so he made sure to help out as much as possible BEFORE the actual prank was conducted rather than during. This way was the safest so that he wouldn't be directly connected. It would be rather by association than actually participating in it.

* * *

The Marauders woke up on the last day of school earlier than usual. They were sure no one would find out before that night what they were planning. However, as Remus had predicted, it wouldn't stay that way for long. Little did they all know that a certain red-head had also woken up around the same time they had.

Lily for some reason couldn't sleep much, as it always happened the last full day they were in Hogwarts before going on the summer holidays. She awoke, thinking she'd go have a walk on the grounds, but soon saw how the day was looking and decided she'd have a go at the library for a while. She knew Madam Pince would be up and wouldn't mind having Lily in the library. She was, after all, her favorite visitor since she knew that Lily would never dream of harming her precious books. Once, when Lily had been doing a project on human transfiguration for McGonagall, she'd even let her look through the Restricted Section of the library. Talk about favoritism!

After her shower, Lily put on some muggle clothes her mom had sent her a month back. Her mom certainly had good taste and remembered her daughter perfectly. The jeans fit nicely and the blouse was wonderful to the touch. Putting on some eyeliner and putting her hair in a messy bun, she grabbed a sweater and began to walk down towards the common room, ready for a day at the library.

Before getting to the last flight of stairs, she heard hushed voices in the common room. This of course surprised her, seeing as how she thought she'd be the only one awake (besides the professors) at this hour. She knelt down, making sure she was out of view and began to listen to the conversation.

"So everything's a-go for tonight?" asked James.

"Yes James, though you could have let us sleep if that's all you wanted to know. You know how I get around full moon time" replied Remus.

"I just wanted to make sure that everything will go perfect. I don't want to leave for the holidays without making our usual BANG...literally" James said with a grin.

Lily, still sitting on the stairs, wondered what in the world they could be planning. Normally, whatever the Marauders planned always involved embarrassing someone. Lily was not having it, seeing as how their last year was coming up and did not want them ruining it as usual. However, Lily knew that if she walked down now they'd think she was listening to the whole thing. Very carefully, she tiptoed back to her room and grabbed her bag and instead of the tennis shoes she was going to wear, she changed to some low heels, making sure that they'd hear her walking down and give them enough time to think she hadn't the chance to overhear their conversation (though she still put her tennis shoes in her bag).

The Marauders had been conversing amongst each other, viewing over the spells and making sure they had everything correct, when they heard a clicking coming from the girl's dormitory. At once, they stopped talking and began to scramble for magazines in order to pretend that they were just sitting there leisurely enjoying a morning in the common room. Looking towards the dormitory entrance, they saw Lily rummaging through her bag, as if looking for something. Lily knew better, however, as she was _pretending_ to be looking for something.

"Hello," Lily said casually as if their presence in the common room wasn't suspicious.

"Hi Lily," said Remus while flashing a smile.

"Hey Lil," Peter replied.

"What's up, Lils?" asked Sirius.

" 'Morning, Evans…" said James.

"Hope you guys have a great morning. Don't get into too much trouble. Later, guys…Potter." Lily replied as she walked out of the common room.

'Phew that was close' thought Lily as she walked out through the portrait hole and towards the library.

* * *

James, on the other hand was thinking something completely different.

'Merlin, she looked gorgeous. Where is she going anyway? Argh! Why do I have to act like a complete prat around her?

'**Coz you are a prat!'**

'Who are You?'

'**I'm your conscience, you dolt!'**

'Wow! I have a conscience! Where were you all these years?'

'**I was always here, doofus! You just never listen to me, so I gave up until now.'**

'And why, pray tell, until now do you pop up?'

'**Coz I know you like Lily and if you don't listen to me, you'll never get her'**

'Oh really? Fine, I'll listen. Just don't make me do stupid lovey dovey stuff.'

'**You'll do whatever I tell you and you'll like it, you hear me?'**

'Fine! Good-bye!'

"JAMES!!!! Are you listening?" Sirius yelled into his ear.

"Oi, mate! No need to yell!" screamed James.

"Well…you weren't paying attention. It's like you blocked us all out once Lily popped up."

"I was just thinking about today, Sirius. Chill out!"

"Alright, alright! Let's go back to planning."


	2. Upstaged

**Disclaimer: I forgot to do this on the last chappie...so don't sue...please!!! i'm broke enough already...pretty please???If I owned any of this, do you think I'd honestly be here? Um, no. Absolutely positively nothing is mine, it's all JKR's I tell you!!! Wait….there is something that belongs to me in here….just the plot…ehehehehe.**

* * *

"Hey! It's feast time my fellow Marauders!" exclaimed Sirius as they were walking down to the Great Hall. He added a wink for good measure.

"Sirius, if you keep this up, everyone will know we're up to something and it will ruin everything"

"Remus, relax! You're so wound up that they'll definitely figure out what were up to with you looking all worried!"

James, on the other hand, was still reeling from the conversation he'd had earlier with his conscience. Though Lily never yelled at him (except for when he was pranking the Slytherins), he felt that she held at least some animosity towards him and doubted she'd ever give him the time of day. James never voiced his feelings out loud, though he knew that the boys had always known about his 'crush' on Lily. Everyone knew she was studious and was at the top of her class, only being the rival to himself along with Remus, Sirius and her best friend since first year by the name of Elizabeth. Another thing everyone noticed was the fact that she was beautiful, but not in a bimbo way like half of Hogwarts tended to be. While passing by in the hallways, 95 of the boys would goggle at her while the rest would just scamper away in embarrassment.

This, of course, included James himself. He wasn't shy when it came to girls, but with Lily it was a different story. The student population knew him to be the most eligible bachelor (behind Sirius, as usual). He'd dated few, but flirted with many. Sirius took the cake when it came down to it as he was always caught, in between classes or after curfew, snogging girls in various places like empty classrooms or broom closets.

Lily was different in James' eyes. Though she wore make-up like the rest of the girls, she wore it in order to compliment her face. This was completely different from the rest of the bimbos at Hogwarts that used make-up in order to create a whole new face (which wasn't much prettier from the first one). She had a great body, which she showed but not by wearing mini-skirts or mid-drifts; she did it by wearing not-too-tight jeans and form-fitting shirts (she wore her uniform as well). **[[a/n: too many dashes, huh? Haha**

But, enough back-story and back to the problem at hand!

* * *

Everyone was finally assembled in the Great Hall and waiting on Dumbledore to begin his end-of-the-year speech. After what seemed like forever, he stood and the hall immediately went silent.

"Well another year has went by and I am hoping you all are walking out of here with your heads a little fuller than when you walked in back in September. For now, I will not bore you and would like to say: Jump in!"

Apparently, those were the magic words because EVERYONE in the Great Hall started scrambling for eating utensils and grabbing whatever was within their reach. Sirius himself probably had half of every plate that was on the Gryffindor table. His excuse was that he needed a full stomach in order to function properly. Peter was right behind him, eating absolutely everything he could get his little paws on. James followed but in a much more civilized way while Remus picked out what he wanted to eat and actually _used_ his utensils.

About a half hour later, after the desserts had been served and were being eaten, Dumbledore stood up again and began his speech.

"Well, now that your stomachs are also full, I would like to ask from each and everyone one of you to be safe over the holidays and to be on the lookout. Lord Voldemort is gaining power each and every day. He's a force to be reckoned with and not one to play around with. Anything you may hear, do not repeat it unless it is to your closest family members. With everything that is going on around us, you do not know who can be trusted, let alone feel secure that the person you are actually speaking with is the correct one and not a Death Eater in disguise. I expect all of you, and I mean ALL of you, to be back here on September 1st safe and sound with lots of good stories about how you spent your summer. Good luck and see you back in September."

With that, Dumbledore opened his arms and bowed. All the students than began filing out of the Great Hall towards their common rooms where they were to spend their last night of the year before heading out in the morning.

However, all good things come to an end; instead, they meet an amused beginning of another chapter. As all the students were leaving the Great Hall, an explosion behind them caught their attention. All heads turned towards the Slytherin table, where a most _interesting_ sight could be observed. The Slytherin students were all _**tap-dancing**_ on their House table. When we say the Slytherin students, we mean ALL of them (excluding the first years). To add to the spectacular show, they were wearing what seemed like leprechaun outfits like those seen in the Muggle movies.

Absolutely everyone in the Great Hall was holding their stomachs because of their laughter. People were leaning on each other; others were on the floor rolling with laughter. Some had even resorted to sitting on the nearest table to bang on it while holding their stomachs. The professors were all trying to hold back their laugher, making them look as if they had a bad case of the stomach flu. Once Professor McGonagall regained her composure, she flicked her wand and returned the Slytherins back to normal. They all looked confused when the spell was removed because they saw that they were standing on their House table. That probably made it even funnier to the rest of the Houses, as they were still leaning on each other laughing as they left the Great Hall towards their common rooms, screeching at the top of their lungs "Did you see that?" or "Oh my gosh! They looked like Peeves around Christmas time!" to which Peeves was not happy about and proceeded to throw Cornish pixies at everyone that passed by him (he'd gotten them from the DADA classroom, that little bugger…).

Back in the Gryffindor common room, everyone was still awake after seeing the show downstairs. Half of the students were still laughing, a quarter of them were discussing it, and the other rest were holding their stomachs because of the horrible stomachaches they had. That amount of laugher must not be good on the stomach after _just_ finishing a meal. The Marauders were going around every group laughing, discussing and comforting all the students when Lily came in, looking absolutely LIVID. Peter cowered behind Remus and Sirius. James was standing next to Remus, talking to a first year when he decided to look up.

"You bloody gits….not you Remus….I know you did this!!!" yelled Lily.

"Really? Is there any proof? I would like to see it." replied Sirius calmly with an 'innocent' grin on his face.

"C'mon! Everyone knows it was you; it's what you're famous for. But, as a matter of fact….I don't have concrete proof. Don't get too cocky, though. Remember the other day you guys were in the common room, _earlier_ than usual mind you, and I was headed towards the library? Well, guess what? You needn't scramble for something to read to 'pretend' you're innocent next time you're planning something. I heard the WHOLE conversation."

They all looked at her in amazement that she'd actually overheard their conversation and gotten away with it without them noticing. Boy, she was good! However, James was the first to regain his composure and decided enough was enough from Little Miss Perfect.

"Ha! Got nothing better to do with your mornings, Evans? Library? Pffft. If you spend any more time in there, I think you'd become fused with those precious little books of yours. And eavesdropping on private conversations? C'mon, Evans! I thought you were better than that. Well, apparently not! Can you stop being so darn uptight and serious all the time? You wouldn't know what a joke was if it hit you in the face. So stop being so damn prissy and 'perfect'…it gets rather aggravating."

Wow! He couldn't believe he'd just said that. The entire common room went quiet, all thoughts from the prank earlier erased from their minds. Instead, they were all staring between James and Lily in absolute shock at what had just happened. James was staring at Lily with a grin on his face and his hands behind his back as if inviting a comeback while Lily just looked at him with what seemed like…_hatred_? No, no. That couldn't be it?

Just as James was beginning to regret what he had said, Lily walked up to him quite calmly with a smile. She stood in front of him, looked up and gave him the most hurtful slap in the face that he'd ever experienced. It was as if all that strength had been bottled up inside for so long and it came out just then. She then went for the other cheek, leaving them both as red as a tomato. Walking away, she turned her head to say "I may be as uptight and prissy as you make me seem out to be. But know this….I'll _always_ be the better person". With that, she threw back her gorgeous red hair and walked up to the common room for a good night's sleep.

After all this time, she'd FINALLY managed to upstage the Great James Potter.

* * *

**A/N: LOL! Go Lily! Anyways, Starbucks is the best! Want to know why? Because that is where I write all this stuff! I thought up of writing this story **_**in**_** a Starbucks by my house. I was bored and had no internet. At the moment I didn't feel like studying either. And since I'm always reading fan-fiction, I thought 'why not write one?'. So here I am. Hey I just started writing this and though I have a basic idea of where this is going, I would still like some ideas from you guys that I can incorporate into the story. I'm **_**sure**_** you guys have good ideas! So…..read and review! That way you let me know whether I should take this farther or not!**

**Love,**

**LPE **

**PS: i not only post here now but also on another site...it's a bigger audience if i post here too, no? in case this is an issue will someone lemme kno...i dont wanna get kicked off of both sites...that would really suck.**


	3. Time's Running Out

* * *

Awaking to a bright light coming from the dorm room window, Lily sat up in bed shaking the sleep from her body. As she was still a big groggy, she had not remembered the events of the previous night. However, it would not stay that way for long. While rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she had not registered that her classmates were already fully awake and staring at her as if she'd grown an extra head. After noticing that she was being stared at, she looked up to see her lovely room mates looking at her.

"Yes? Do I have something on my face?" Lily asked while rubbing her face with her bed covers.

"No. Do you not remember what you did last night, Lily?" asked Jessica.

"Umm…no. Why should --?" Lily cut off mid-sentence as all the memories rushed back into her head. All she could reply was an "Oh" which was then accompanied by the biggest smile she could muster.

"Lily! You aren't happy about it, are you? You really hurt the boy. Not only physically but emotionally!" replied Alice with a look of sympathy on her face.

"Alice, I can't believe you're jumping to his defense after what he said to me!"

"I'm not defending him" said Alice. "I'm merely stating that the slaps were a bit too much. Ok, I take that back. The first one he deserved, but the second was a bit too much."

"Ah, he's a big boy. He can take it" said Lily, getting up to gather her things to take to the bathroom.

Elizabeth, who had remained fairly quiet throughout the whole discussion decided to pipe up. "I personally think he needed those slaps, Lily, to knock some kind of sense into him. But, I do agree with Alice when she says you hurt the boy emotionally. After you walked upstairs, he looked like someone had torn up his heart and fed it to the Giant Squid. I'm not saying you should apologize, but do not leave for the holidays with this between you. It's not healthy."

Lily at the moment was still fuming about Alice jumping to James' defense. She'd always let her fiery temper get the best of her. It happened with James as it had happened with Severus. Severus, however, was now past forgiveness. All Lily had wanted was for Severus to let up the whole Dark Arts thing and focus on a much better path. Alas, he had chosen the former over her friendship. Lily's morals had thus prevented that their friendship continue. After Severus, she'd begun to find solace in Remus, who was one of the very few outside her girls that understood her. After pondering for about a minute about what she should do, she decided that she'd go find Remus after showering and having a bit of breakfast before heading of to catch the train in Hogsmeade. She'd have to hope, however, that when she did find him, he wouldn't be attached to his little group.

_Meanwhile…in another part of the dormitory…_

"Prongsie, my boy! Get ready and stop sulking. She's just a girl" Sirius said while throwing all his belongings haphazardly into his school trunk. Peter was attempting to find a missing sock at the moment, while Remus cast a neat little spell with the flick of his wand that made all of his things to be placed neatly and orderly inside the trunk.

"Gu un zoo brukfest wizou me. I'll bee k" James replied from under his pillows and covers.

As usual, Remus was the voice of reason. "James, do realize that we leave in a couple hours for the summer holidays. You have not packed and you stink. Please, go shower and I shall pack your belongings for you. Then, we will ALL go down to breakfast and enjoy our last couple hours before leaving for our LAST summer holiday. Got it?"

"Yes, Mother" James said, pulling the covers off him and starting to walk towards the bathroom.

"Just for the record, James. You asked for what Lily gave you last night" said Remus.

James stared at Remus with disbelief sketched all over his face. He was his mate! How could he take her side?

"Are you effing kidding me, Remus? I understand that I may have crossed the line, but she had no excuse to cause such a scene in the common room."

"If your reputation is what you're worried about, I doubt people will remember this by the start of next year. They'll just add it to the 'Lily and James' fight list next to the number 853" said Remus, who was almost done packing up James' belongings.

"Did I tell you guys how much girls complicate life?" replied James with exasperation in his voice.

"Oy, mate. If that wasn't the case, then life with them would certainly be boring, don't you think?" started Sirius. Before anyone could answer that, Peter popped up from somewhere behind his bed.

"Have any of you guys seen my blue sock with the Quaffles on them?"

All of them replied with a no. Though, they had a feeling that the sock was probably in plain view, they decided against helping Peter seeing as how their discussion had churned some serious thinking inside the brains of three of the Marauders.

'_Could I have really gone too far'_ James thought.

'_James is SOOOOO whipped' _was Sirius' idea.

'_If James could only comprehend Lily's side of the story then he might stand the chance with her' _contemplated Remus.

'_WHERE THE HECK IS THIS DARN SOCK???'_ Peter screamed inside his head.

**

* * *

**

As the boys were in the dorm getting everything packed in order to go, the girls had already walked down and were headed to the Great Hall. Jessica and Alice were in a heated debate as to what Frank might be doing since he was currently undergoing his Auror training.

"I heard the make you go through so many simulations in order to grade your concealment and detection ," Jessica stated.

"Frank mentioned something like that but didn't go into specifics. He said he wasn't allowed since the training hasn't been completed yet" said Alice.

Up front, Lily and Liz were still talking about the previous night in the common room. The "Potter" incident as they now called it was in full discussion by the best friends.

"Liz, you honestly can't tell me I was wrong in doing that. He asked for it and I gave it to him. I fully understand he likes me, but how can I even begin to contemplate looking at him in a different light when he acts like he's 5 years old all the time."

"I completely understand you, Lily" said Elizabeth, "But understand where he comes from as well, Lils. He's a guy. Most of them don't know how to express their emotions. The only way James has been able to do that is to bully and tease you. Think of it as like that kid back in primary school that used to bother you to no end until he finally confessed that he like you. Remember that?"

Lily understood where Liz was coming from and replied with a half-hearted yes. Secretly, Lily had always thought Potter as a good guy, but his constant teasing was infuriating and she just couldn't see herself with him until he finally managed to grow up and act his age. She also understood that time was running out for him, with their final year creeping up on them. It was then that she hoped the holidays would act as wake-up call for him. She really wanted to give him that chance he'd always asked for, but for that he'd need to shed his boy-ish ways and finally grow up to be a man.

'_I really hope he grows up. There isn't much time left'_ thought Lily miserably

**

* * *

**

The Marauders finally came down for breakfast after Peter managed to find his sock in one of the cupboards inside the dorm bathroom. James was still feeling down about the night before, and nothing the boys did managed to cheer him. They finally gave up and let him sulk as they walked down to the Great Hall. As they entered, they noticed the girls were already eating breakfast and talking about the latest gossip in Witch Weekly. The boys sat in their usual spot at the end of the table, thankful that the girls had procured seats in the middle of the Gryffindor table. James needed some healing time, which wouldn't be given if he would have ended up next to Lily. The boys were thinking that this time James would end up without a head instead of just slaps like the previous night.

While the boys were eating (or James attempting to and Sirius eating everything in sight), Lily mustered up the courage to walk up to Remus in front of the boys to ask him if she could talk to him before the train departed. Slowly, she made her way over to the table, where she was greeted with shocked looks from all the boys. She bent down by Remus and whispered an " I need to talk to you before the train leaves" and was responded with an "Ok" from Remus. As she walked away, she saw out of the corner of her eye Remus give James a shrug and a confused look, to which James merely sighed and went back to picking at his food. She hoped that maybe talking to Remus and discussing her options would both alleviate her and James' confusion and hurt.

**

* * *

**

"Run that by me one more time, Lily" Remus replied with a shocked expression but with an amused look in his tired eyes.

"Remus, I honestly wish Potter would just stop acting like a little kid. If he would just act his age, I would consider giving him that chance he so desperately needs. Honestly, I don't hate the boy. I just wish he'd act like a grown man instead of a five-year old child. We're almost out of Hogwarts, for Merlin's sake! He frustrates me to no end, but I admit he's not a bad guy. He's loyal, smart and funny. But he takes it past a tolerable level when he jinxes the Slytherins for no reason or when he teases me and my friends. Alright, I'm rambling. What I meant by everything is that maybe you should give him advice on this issue. You know me just as well as the other girls do. It's just that your advantage is that I can confide in you and you can give me advice back since you're close mates with Potter."

All Remus could do was smile, which was slowly making Lily blush as time passed. After what seemed like eternity, Remus spoke up with a couple of words of advice for Lily herself.

"Alright, Miss Evans. I'll see what I can do. But understand this first: James may not act his age, but the boy loves you. He talks about you so often that we have to put a silencing charm on him a lot. It's the only way we're able to sleep at night. The thing with him is that he thinks that's the only way to your heart. Nobody's ever told him otherwise. Not to worry, however! All of us Marauders are spending the summer at his manor. I guarantee you that by the end of the holidays and the beginning of Seventh Year, he'll act his age and you'll see him in a different light. Deal?"

All Lily could do at the moment was nod.

'_Merlin, I hope this works!'_ was a thought they both shared, though neither knew that was what the other was thinking.

* * *

**A/N: Blah! On Word, this chapter is almost 5 pages! I really don't like this chapter because it didn't flow as good as the first two. However, I really wanted this to get out. If you don't like it, just let me know what I should change. I know this chapter was horrible with grammar. Maybe that's one of the reasons why I dislike it so much. Just review with your suggestions and I'll revise it as soon as possible.**

**I really wanted Lily to realize she "liked" James before their seventh year. Most of the stories I read don't have her realizing that until their seventh year…but I want this one to be a bit different. Depending on how much I want to write I may change this up a bit. Don't know that for sure yet, though! I need those reviews!!**

**Alright…I'm rambling. I'm off. I'll post chapter 4 as fast as I can, so don't get mad at me if I take long. That just means school or work got in the way!**

**XoXo,**

**-LPE**

**PS: jus remember i post on the other first, ok? but no worries...while i get validated on the other site, i'll post it here! **


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